Off-duty garda thwarts cash-in-transit robbery

An unarmed, off-duty garda had a gun pointed at him, while other gardaí tackled a man armed with a hatchet in two separate incidents over a 24-hour period.

In the first incident, the off-duty member thwarted an armed robbery at around 12pm on Monday.

The garda was at a shopping centre in Ratoath, Co Meath, when he saw a man brandishing what appeared to be a firearm at a security man who was collecting cash from the centre.

“The man, dressed in black, demanded the cash box and fled with it to a waiting grey Renault Kangoo van driven by a second man,” said a Garda spokesman.

He said the van drove off at speed and that the off-duty garda followed the van into a nearby housing estate. “He boxed the van in with his own car,” the spokesman said. “The suspects exited the van and pointed the firearm at the unarmed garda.

“Following a brief stand-off, the men dropped the firearm and the cash box and fled into fields.” The spokesman said a search of the area was carried out but that the men had not so far been arrested. “During a follow-up search of a house at Streamstown, Ratoath, items of black clothing, which gardaí believe were associated with the robbery, were recovered,” the spokesman added.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Ashbourne Garda Station on 01 8010 600.

In a separate incident, gardaí in Dungarvan, west Waterford, were responding to a call about suspicious activity in the Abbeyside area early yesterday.

“While they were in the area a call was received about a burglary in progress,” said a spokesman. “Gardaí then spotted a man armed with a hatchet. Gardaí disarmed and arrested the man.”

Detectives are investigating reports that the man threatened the occupants of a house and stole cash and mobile phones.

Meanwhile, in a third incident, it emerged that a man arrested on suspicion of taking a car from a heavily pregnant woman on Monday was on temporary release for other robberies.

The woman was sitting in the passenger seat of a car in Dublin’s north inner city when the man, brandishing a blood- filled syringe, assaulted her. He tried to force her out of the car but, after a struggle, he made off with the woman still in the car.

Luckily, the incident was seen by gardaí in a passing patrol car, who gave chase before later apprehending the man.